Death Moon : A Naruto Fanfiction
by FanFictor723
Summary: Naruto Namikaze Uzumaki, the boy that was supposed to be a hero with the nine tails sealed inside him. What happens when the 9-tails container joins the Akatsuki? Read to find out! AU DIVERGENT STORYLINE!
1. Akatsuki and Konoha

Naruto Namikaze Uzumaki, the boy that was supposed to be a hero with the nine tails sealed inside him, At least, that was how it was supposed to go but, oh boy did it go the other way, the villagers hated him for the nine tails that was sealed inside him. The day started out like every other day, he woke up in his broken apartment all alone, he knew that he had to get dressed so that he could go to school, Konoha High but, before that, he needed to have his breakfast, same as always he went to his favorite place, Ichiraku Ramen, gave his money and ordered a hot, spicy ramen for his breakfast. After that, it was the usual routine, walk down the street, get disgusted looks from all the villagers and the kids.

He then reached Konoha High and went to his class with Iruka Sensei. As he was late, the only seat available was a seat next to the Hyūgas, Neji and Hinata. He saw all of the kids chatting about the Chūnin exams, of course, no one included Naruto, the only one to ever _willingly_ talk to Naruto was the Princess Hinata, for some reason she had taken an unusual liking to the blonde but again, Naruto couldn't care less about who wanted to talk to him and who didn't. Soon after, homeroom was over and they had to go into their teams. Naruto was part of Team 7 or Team Kakashi, apart from having a perverted teacher being Kakashi himself, the people that were on team 7 were: Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno who had a HUGE crush on Sasuke.

As usual, the "Sharingan Warrior" didn't show up on time, probably reading that book of his. A good 2 hours passed and after that, the white haired teacher finally came on the rooftop "sorry I'm late, a black cat crossed my path, so I had to take the longer route" Naruto immediately snapped "LIAR". "Anyways, today we will be doing Shinobi Kumite, use any class of jutsu you want, actually, no scrap that. This Shinobi Kumite will specifically focus on Taijutsu" Kakashi said. Naruto thought to himself "Why in the name of god do we have to focus on taijutsu?", then Kakashi said "First match, Sasuke and Naruto". Sakura thought "That dumb kid Naruto is no match for my Sasuke, I'm sure that he is going to get humiliated". Sasuke and Naruto walked up to the battlegrounds and did the reconciliation seal and then the battle started. Naruto made the mistake of going for a straight up attack. Big Mistake.. With one swift move, Sasuke grabbed Naruto's foot and pinned him to the ground and held a Kunai up to Naruto's throat. Completely immobilizing him. Kakashi said "Well done Sasuke, you are the winner", Sakura was thinking "*Giggle Giggle* look at that Naruto, got completely destroyed by Sasuke". Before they knew it, the end of the day had come and everyone headed back to the academy to be picked up by their parents and close ones. However, It was not the same for Naruto, the lonely blonde walked home, with a gloomy expression.

Little did he know, an Akatsuki member was watching him. As Naruto went into his little apartment, he dropped straight to the bed and started crying. A few moments later, a few Chuunins came into Naruto's apartment with knifes and other tools for torture. Naruto cried out "Please, don't. I wasn't my fault!" the Ninjas laughed and one of them said "That's exactly what we said to the monster fox, but did he stop? NO, He didn't. He continued killing our families, my mom and dad included." as one of the Chuunins walked up to him with a knife and sliced his arm.

Naruto cried out in pain. Another one took of his jacket and put at least a foot long cut on his back, That one Akatsuki member was shocked! A 12 year old boy being tortured by his own people? He could not accept this. He jumped into Naruto's apartment, Sharingan flared into life. Yep, It was the one and only Itachi Uchiha. The three Chuunin were scared to death, one of the most powerful ninjas standing in front of them, if they didn't run, then they would _definitely_ die, as expected, they all did run. That left the ex-ANBU and, now Akatsuki member and the blonde alone. Naruto knew that this could go one of 2 ways. He would either kill Naruto or Leave.

Naruto was sure where this was going. Itachi was most definitely going to kill him. Naruto's heart was pounding, was this the end? Is this how he is going to die, at

The hands of an Akatsuki? Itachi came closer to Naruto, a bland expression on his face, but much to Naruto's surprise, Itachi didn't try to kill him, instead, he started to talk to him.

"Hello, My name is Itachi Uchiha, and you are…?" Said Itachi to which Naruto responded "H..H.H..Hi my name is Naruto Uzumaki." "Naruto, how long have been tortured for?" Itachi said, Naruto replied "ever since I was 5 years old". Itachi, again was shocked that a boy that small would be tortured, then it struck him! Naruto was the vessel of the Kyuubi or the Nine Tailed demon fox! That's why. This was also the boy that Pain had sent Itachi to bring into the Akatsuki, and now, Itachi had the perfect plan to bring him into the Akatsuki!

"Naruto, do you want to ridicule everyone that has ever hated on you, tortured you or made fun of you?" Said Itachi "Yes, can you help me do that?" Replied Naruto to which Itachi replied, "of course I can, see this cloak I am wearing, It is a cloak that only members of **Akatsuki** get to wear." Naruto was fascinated "Akatsuki? Are they powerful people?" Itachi replied "yes, very powerful people." to which Naruto replied "Can I join this Akatsuki too?" Itachi's plan had gone well, Naruto had asked the question to Itachi. Itachi then replied "Of course you can, let's go to the hideout"

Naruto was wondering why an organization that housed powerful people was letting him, a poor orphan who couldn't even hold his own against that idiotic Sasuke, join, but, he wasn't complaining and he didn't intend to inform Itachi of the situation.

-Akatsuki Hideout-

At the Akatsuki hideout at the tower in the Amegakure, Pain, Konan, Sasori, Deidara and Tobi were playing cards, just as Tobi was about to win, Itachi came inside the room with the blonde. To Pain's surprise, Itachi had recovered the target the Akatsuki were after for 5 years. "Well, well, Naruto Uzumaki, the jinchuuriki of the Nine-Tails. It is a pleasure to have you in the Akatsuki, we promised you power and you shall get it" said Pain "Are you ready Naruto?" "Yes, I am" Replied Naruto. A loud thunder strike lit up the sky as soon as Naruto said those words. "Good. You will have fun with us" Replied Pain.

"Hey! How is that fair, the moment I am about to win Itachi walks in and ends the game, that's not fair!" grumbled Tobi. "Shut up Tobi, I can see the cards you are hiding up your sleeves. Don't try to cheat your way out of this, you owe me ten plates of dango next time we visit the street market." retorted Deidara, the partner of our beloved cheater.

There was silence in the room apart from the constant sound of the rain and thunder, until Tobi yelled out "Well now that we have the boy, what are we going to do now? Are we just going to sit here and judge people?". He looked at Deidara but the explosion style user just shrugged. "Patience Tobi!" said Itachi, in a tone that did nothing to betray his own inner excitement. "Well, what are we going to do?" asked Sasori. Itachi replied, "We will go to Konoha, inform the people that we have their prized possession with us. That'll make them vulnerable and make them…", Itachi was cut off mid-sentence by Naruto "Yeah, like they care about me, Prized possession!"

Itachi felt sad to say this but he had to tell Naruto about the truth, "Naruto, we weren't talking about you as the prized possession, we meant the Nine-Tails sealed inside you.". Naruto was thunderstruck, " .. What do you mean? I thought the Fourth Hokage got rid of it!" "The Fourth Hokage wasn't an almighty being to just warp it out of existence, he sealed it in a new born baby that was you." He said in a sad tone, "Little do you know Naruto, but kage from other villages would go to great length to get you, even though the villagers shun you, you are an object of great political power. It is people like you that nations go to war for, and that is what we as the Akatsuki try to change. It is our goal to obtain all of the nine-tailed beasts and change this cycle of hatred over power.".

Naruto was shocked, this changed everything! He was just told how he was nothing more than a trophy, a boasting right for all of the villages to claim. "Why.. The, the.. those BASTARDS!" Roared Naruto "All I am to them a goddamn bragging right?" Everyone was surprised by Naruto's sudden outburst, after the outburst finished he started quietly sobbing and Konan immediately got up to comfort him, but Itachi told her to sit down with a signal of his hand. Itachi was the one to say something to him "see, Naruto. This is what we want to change. This is why we are going to Konoha to show them that you are more than a bragging right, that you are a human being, not a human doing." "Thank you Itachi, thank you" Replied Naruto, there was a look in his eye that showed pent up fury of his entire hide threatening to let loose. The pupils slightly elongated and his normally blue eyes turned slightly red. That look scared most of the Akatsuki members to the bone, even Pain was unnerved. "Now, let's go to Konoha and show them" he hissed.

-At Konoha-

The Akatsuki arrived in a timely fashion, just as the Hokage and a bunch of Jōnin and Chunin and accompanied by their Genin students. Team seven was present, or at least what was left of them. As soon as the Hokage and the Jōnin spotted the Akatsuki, they immediately got their weapons out, the Genin followed, but the current Hokage, Tsunade Senju remained as calm as ever. The Akatsuki dropped down from the tree. Only Pain, Kisame and Itachi were there, at least that's what it seemed like. Standing between the three of them, Naruto was shrouded in an Akatsuki cloak. The cloak blended in so well with the others that nobody saw him.

At the sight of Itachi, Sasuke created a chidori and ran at Itachi. As he was running he activated his sharingan and that was when he saw Naruto, he stumbled. Itachi breached this opening and grabbed sasuke by the collar, throwing him into the nearest clump of trees. The sounds of wood snapping and thrashing was heard and two seconds later a battered Sasuke reappeared on the other side of the clump.

"N.N..Naruto?" Sasuke said in disbelief. Naruto stepped out from the cover of the other Akatsuki members. Everyone gasped in shock as they recognized the blonde haired prankster. Kakashi immediately got into battle stance as he noticed the slitted pupils. "Naruto, what are you doing?" said Tsunade said "I'm joining the Akatsuki, this village has tortured me and to it, I'm just an object of power. No one cares for me." "Are you crazy! We all do" Tsunade felt hurt that about what Naruto was saying but, deep down she knew it was true. " I still love this village and because I am the only jinchuuriki here, the Akatsuki will leave Konoha alone, but only because I requested them to"

"N.N.. Naruto, what has happened to you? Why are you going with people that want to destroy the whole world?" Sakura said taken aback by her teammates sudden decision. "SHUT UP Sakura! You don't know what it's like having the Nine Tails sealed inside you, you don't know what it feels like to only relevant for your political power, not for what you are. The nine tails' hatred gnaws on you, and besides there is nothing that I can learn here. I will leave Konoha so I can gain power and stop people from mistreating the jinchurikis and bring peace to the world."

Everyone was shocked, but Sasuke was positively scared. The one thing he could rely upon his whole life was that he was more powerful than Naruto and now Naruto was among the ranks of the Akatsuki with his elder brother, and that terrifying chakra that was oozing into the air. It was filled with power and hatred that seemed to come in impossible amounts. Then it hit him, that must be how Naruto had coped with his hatred and stayed positive all that time, he fed all his negative emotions to the nine tails and now it was coming out at once.

Sasuke had been thinking about Orochimaru's promise for power, but now it was finalized. He had to go there, he had to be more powerful than Naruto so he could kill Itachi. "I intend to leave this village too, and go to Orochimaru to gain power!" He declared. Everyone stared at him too and Sakura looked heartbroken, but he didn't care for something as unimportant as her feelings.

He grabbed his bag that was sitting by his feet and took off into the woods.

"Just you guys wait, The Akatsuki will rule the world one day, and make it a better place," said Naruto

Naruto was on the way back to the Akatsuki hideout, he was returning from Konoha. It was a long journey from the Village hidden in the Rain to The village hidden in the Leaves and back to Hidden Rain. However, Naruto was not tired at all, in fact he was ready to begin his training with Itachi.

"Itachi, when will we start training? I really want to get all that power!" said Naruto, "Patience my dear, that is what you (and Tobi) lack. You must wait until tomorrow morning" replied Itachi. Naruto pouted, as if he was a little girl and then, he was hit by a stroke of genius, " Hey Itachi, is it OK if I train on the road?". "What do you mean?" queried Itachi. " I mean," the boy broke off as he summoned a shadow clone and both of him started creating the Rasengans. " I mean like this". He turned to his clone and both of them collided their Rasengans and both of them flew back, Naruto got up and repeated the process. "Is that OK?" "Only if you make sure to still be able to train tomorrow, I'm fine with it."

Itachi was really surprised by how quickly Naruto's mood had changed after leaving the village. He was also confused at why the Nine-tails hadn't broken out by now, he had the perfect opening when Naruto was angry at the village. Itachi wondered if the nine-tails had taken a liking to Naruto. Either way he intended to teach Naruto how to harness its power.

Naruto was starting to enjoy Itachi's company, he seemed like a cold person on the outside but once you got to know him he was quite kind. Naruto couldn't believe that this was the same person that had murdered his entire clan, and if it was then he must have had a good reason.

As Naruto continued training, he pondered upon Sasuke's sudden decision while Naruto announced his joining of the Akatsuki. Then he thought, if Itachi was Sasuke's brother, then he would know Sasuke's motives. "Hey Itachi, do you know why Sasuke wanted to leave the village and go to that creepy snake dude that even Kakashi-sensei is afraid of?". Itachi remained in quiet thought for a minute and he wore a pained expression. Just when naruto that he had ignored the question, he replied. "Sasuke has gone to Orochimaru to gain power." "Why?" said Naruto "So he can kill me." There was an intimidating silence in the air and, it seemed to glare at Naruto. Even when he breathed.

-Time Skip (1 day)-

It had been almost a day of walking to Amegakure, Itachi was tired out of his wits. It didn't help that he had to keep his Sharingan activated to watch for people to come and get Naruto back but, Itachi seemed to be the only one tired at all. Kisame wasn't tired in the least, but that wasn't really a fair comparison since his energy came from Samehada leaching of everyone else's chakra. Pain was levitating the whole way, but what surprised him the most was Naruto, after a whole day of throwing Rasengans at himself and his clones the boy wasn't tired at all.

He eventually got bored of walking and he got two clones to carry him the rest of the way. While he was lying down he was working on trying to maintain a Rasengan with one hand for extended periods of time.

It just kept blowing up after 36 seconds! He couldn't maintain it for longer than that with one hand. He had tried to slow down the rotation but that just ended the jutsu. When he tried to speed it up and blasted him of the clones that were carrying him.

"Why don't you try to focus on the containment field and make them tighter over time, this way when the rotation slows down the containment fields will make it denser so the destructive power stays the same." Itachi suggested. "Cool idea, let me try it."

Naruto created the Rasengan, this time when he dispelled the clone that was helping him from it, he completely ignored maintaining the rotation and instead held together the containment field. 34, 35, 36 seconds! It had broken the record. It kept spinning but the size was getting so small that Naruto had serious doubts that it would do any damage. It kept spinning until it was so small it was nonexistent at 68 seconds. Naruto liked how it stayed active longer but he wanted to maintain its size while he was fighting.

Naruto was about to repeat the process when he heard Tobi yell, "Finally you guys are here, tell me all about how the meeting at Kono- AH!" He cut of and yelped in pain as Deidara elbowed him hard in the ribs. "Shut up you idiot, we don't want everyone to know that where the new arrival is from!" Sighed Deidara.

Finally they were here, Naruto couldn't wait to start training. But first he was looking forward to making some of that instant ramen he had bought before leaving. He hoped they had ramen here.

"Naruto… Naruto… NARUTO!" Were the first things he heard when he woke up from his night's sleep, his vision was blurry after all he did have a yesterday of chakra manipulation and colliding Rasengans, he was tired, but he jolted up nevertheless only to see Itachi shouting at him "Jeez Ita, you don't need to shout and what is it? 6:30 in the morning?" said Naruto in a sloppy voice "No, it's not 6:30, it's 7:30 and you are not to call me Ita, Never unless I tell you to" said Itachi in an angry voice "plus, today you have to start training, did you forget?" "Of course not!, I'm not dumb" retorted Naruto " _Ha"_ Itachi mentally thought, on the outside, he smirked "WHAT? I'M NOT!" Naruto said with a high voice, Itachi chuckled at that "I didn't say you were, Naruto"

"Why don't you two get a room?" said Tobi as he came into the room, Itachi had that classic look of "really dude..?" "Okay…. I'll just go" Tobi said nervously. Naruto got up and put on his classic black and orange jumpsuit and put on his specially designed Akatsuki cloak on after that. Naruto came to the small wooden table and sat down next to Pain and Itachi for breakfast, he was expecting Miso Pork Ramen, but what he got was a little water-ry soup and very, very badly made sandwich, "honestly if this is what powerful people ate then I don't really like it, but hey.. Something's better than nothing" Naruto thought to himself. After he had finished eating, Itachi told him to come and begin his training, today he was going to do ninjutsu classes with Itachi, but before they could do that, he needed to find out what chakra type Naruto was, he hoped that Naruto was a fire type or a water type.

Anyways, when Naruto finally came out Itachi said to him "today we are doing Ninjutsu training" and as soon as Itachi said that Naruto's face gleamed with excitement, he always wanted to do Ninjutsu training as he wasn't very good in it and wanted to get better, and as soon as he was about say something about how good he wanted to become, Itachi interrupted him and said " before we begin, I need to find out what chakra type you are.", now Naruto was confused, Chakra type? He had never heard of such a thing, so naturally he questioned "Chakra type? What is that?" to which Itachi replied "You see Naruto, there are 5 types of chakra, like the 5 elemental nations. They are; Water, Fire, Lightning, Earth and Wind", Naruto then said "okay, I got that but how are we going to find which chakra type I am?" Itachi chuckled and said "we will do it with this paper, you see Naruto this paper is made out of a special wood that absorbs chakra. You hold this paper between your index and middle finger and then concentrate all of your chakra into that paper. If you are a fire type, the paper will burn, water ,the paper will become wet, lightning, the paper will wrinkle, wind, the paper will split in 2, earth, the paper will turn to dust. I personally am a fire type". Naruto did as he was told and put the paper in between his index and middle finger and concentrated his chakra into it, much to Itachi's favour the paper burned and turned to ash "Naruto, it seems that you have the fire property, which is great as I can teach you most of the ninjutsu that I have learnt" Itachi said.

Naruto was overjoyed, the person who had been the kindest to him as soon as he met him was going to train him and make him stronger. "Now, Naruto before we can begin, just tell me if you know these two things : Change In Chakra Nature and Change in Chakra Form" not being patient, Naruto immediately formed a Rasengan and started to wave it up "Okay, Stop!" Itachi said. "Your Rasengan has already done the Change in Chakra Form part! Spinning highly concentrated chakra at a lightning fast speed and compressing it, that is the change in Chakra Nature" Naruto was of course happy, that was one less thing he had to focus on, and he could move on to the more complicated thing, Change in Chakra Nature. Naruto already knew that he had the fire property within his chakra and so did Itachi.

Now Naruto was ready to use this, but he didn't know how. He needed Itachi to explain this to him. "Let's take for example, Fire Style : Fireball Jutsu" Itachi begins forming fire in his hand, Naruto says "this is the change in Chakra Nature" "That's right" Itachi replies "now I simply use this and I then determine the size of the fireball, that's the basic technique. After that what you do, is up to you. I then use it to discharge the fire in all directions. It's easier said than done" Itachi then demonstrates. Fireballs spewed out in all directions, many blazing right past Naruto. Before Naruto had the time to respond, Tobi came out and said "Hey you guys! Pain wants you all inside" ''we'll be right in" Itachi replied.

Itachi and Naruto went into the hideout where they see all the Akatsuki members sitting down in the discussion room. It seemed it was serious and so Naruto decided not to say anything stupid. There were seats with names written on them, Itachi and Naruto sat down at their respective seats. Pain then announced the meeting was in session, "okay, welcome everybody. This Akatsuki meeting will focus on 'the plan'. Let's begin"

"Umm… Sorry, but I don't really know what this 'plan' is?" Naruto said in a questioning and slightly sarcastic voice. "Oh, right. Pain, should we tell him about 'the plan'?" Konan questioned, after a long pause, Pain said "well, he is an Akatsuki member now, I suppose we should"


	2. The Plan and Kakashi

Chapter 2

 _Previously, on Death Moon "Pain, should we tell him about 'the plan'?" Konan questioned, after a long pause, Pain said "well, he is an Akatsuki member now, I suppose we should"_

 _Chapter 2, this is explanation of 'the plan'. Enjoy! I don't own any Naruto/Naruto Shipuuden characters. All ownership of characters goes to Masashi Kishimoto and Shounen Jump, plot is my own, my own take on the amazing story of Naruto._

 _-Made by FanFictor723 and a Friend!_

Naruto was nervous, for reasons unknown to him, he had a hunch that something was going to go wrong. "You see Naruto, we said we wanted to change this cycle of power. You see, we want to take over the Shinobi Nations, you want to be part of that right?" Itachi said in a comforting voice. Naruto thought for a moment, then calmly said "yes" This was surprising, Itachi thought that Naruto would say no, but everything had played out in his favour.

"Well, you see, we are going to war with all of the elemental nations, our plan is to use the moon, a sort of 'Death Moon'." Itachi continued to talk in his calm and kind voice, however, Naruto was puzzled, "How do you plan to do such a thing?" Naruto asked. "Well, you see this is where we need you. I am the only one with a Sharingan and a Mangekyo Sharingan. We plan to use something called the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Do you know what that is?" Itachi questioned, "It sounds like a bad jutsu" Naruto replied

"It is, in a way and in a way, it isn't" Pain said, emotionless as always. "What do you mean?" Naruto asked, Itachi replied "It is a type of Genjutsu, a deception technique. The Infinite Tsukuyomi is a technique where the person you have used it on goes to sleep, they don't wake up unless you tell them to, you can then draw out their chakra or, kill them. That's the bad part" Naruto was emotionless, he then spoke "The good part?"

"They see what they desire most" Kisame said in his husky voice. Itachi waved his hand to signal ' _I got this'_ "You see, we are planning to use the Infinite Tsukuyomi on every shinobi that comes to the war, most probably Chuunins, Jounins and the Kages. It's a solid plan, our only concern is how to execute it." Itachi said.

Meanwhile, Naruto ventured off into a daydream. He imagined being on the moon, soaring in space. He heard some faint noises, that must be his clue to snap back. Immediately he started nodding. Tobi was talking "Hey, I was thinking, why don't we distract all of the shinobi, including the Kages while Itachi sets up the Infinite Tsukuyomi." Naruto then followed up by saying "No, too complicated" Naruto had yet to think of a solution. "Well, what do you suggest Naruto?" Pain said in an emotionless voice.

"The Moon?" Naruto said, slightly unsure about his suggestion. "Yes, and how do plan to use the moon?" Sasori questioned. "Well, maybe we could implement some sort of Mangekyo Sharingan in the moon, or an object in the sky that appears as large as the moon" Itachi said, a bit more serious this time. "Not bad, sounds good actually" Pain smirked, a rare sight. "All is good, but how are you going to get it in the sky without people noticing?" Tobi said in a questioning tone.

"Genjutsu" Itachi spoke in a grim voice. "No" Naruto said, "We'll make up a jutsu." Naruto said in a serious voice. "It's not that easy, no jutsu for _any_ variant of the Sharingan is able to reach that size, no one here has the Byakugan and it would be useless anyways, my Rinnegan can't do that either" Pain says sounding extremely hypercritical.

"Well, how about this?" Naruto closed his eyes, and then immediately opened them, revealing what looked like a Rinne-Sharingan, but was not. It had slitted pupils with 6 tomoe, the eye was a crimson colour. When everyone saw it, they were both shocked and in awe. They had never seen something like this, even Pain was scared of this _thing_

"W...Wha...What can it do?" Itachi stuttered, most likely due to the shock. "Just warning you, we should go outside" so, everyone did. After that, Naruto concentrated "This." Naruto said in a ghoulish voice. Suddenly, a black ball appeared, it kept growing and growing until it was twice as big as a normal size truth-seeking orb. Then, it flew up in the air and flashed with red, revealing an eye, Naruto's own eye. The blue, afternoon sky turned dark, thunder clapped everywhere, the black ball flashed with red, with Naruto's eye until it finally stabilized and was a constant picture of Naruto's eye.

However, Naruto was using up all of his chakra, he soon fainted and the ball faded into nothingness. Itachi was quick to tend to the fainted Naruto. "Get some help here!" Itachi said, Pain, Sasori and Konan rushed to help, while Tobi and Deidara remained silent.

-When Naruto wakes up-

The first thing Naruto sees is Itachi sitting next to him, one hand in Naruto's hair. "Mmm… Ita, move" Naruto says drowsily, Itachi didn't know that Naruto was awake, he pulled his hand out his hair, "What did I tell you about calling me Ita?" Itachi said in a slightly demanding tone. "Okay okay Itachi, can you please move?" Naruto says, sounding slightly annoyed, but still sleepy. "Get up, Pain wants to talk to you about something" Itachi says in his normal voice.

"Bed comfy" Naruto says in a reluctant voice. "I'm sure it is, but Naruto, you must understand. When Pain calls, we obey" Itachi says. "Okay fine, tell hm I'll be there in 2 minutes" Naruto replies in a slightly gloomy voice.

Naruto puts on his his orange tracksuit and his Akatsuki robe specially designed for him and goes to meet Pain in the discussion room, where he sees a solitary Pain, sitting quietly "Naruto, please sit" Pain asks in an emotionless voice, Naruto does as he is told and sits down next to Pain.

"Naruto, firstly I want to say that what you did out there, was just amazing. Naruto, I have one question and one question only. What are you?" Pain askes in a slightly forgiving voice, a rare sound. "Thanks Pain" is all Naruto had to say. After a brief pause, Naruto speaks, "I never really knew about myself, or what I am. I've been called many names. Demon, Brat, Murderer, Prankster, Deadlast and many more. I've never really let them bother me. The only thing is that I have so many things I don't know, I don't even know where to find answers to them."

Pain sat emotionless, deep inside he did know how to help Naruto, he planned to tell him, and now seemed the right time. "Naruto, I think I can help you find the answers"

"Really!" Naruto exclaimed, Pain hated to admit it, but even he was internally smiling at the boy's bubbly personality, Naruto was just that kind of person, but Pain hid his emotion and told Naruto "yes, but first, you must do something for me." Pain said with a serious face, it seemed as if someone had frozen his face in time, but that was enough of that for now.

"Naruto, what I am about to ask you to do, will remain a secret of the Akatsuki. You will tell no-one. Are we clear?" Pain spoke in a stoic and stern voice. "Yes, Pain-sama" Naruto said respectfully, now adjusting himself in his seat, placing his head on the back of the chair. "Very well, like I said, your doujutsu has incredible power, but you do not have the Sharingan, much less the Mangekyo Sharingan, you cannot cast the Genjutsu" Pain told Naruto in a very much 'Pein-like' voice.

"I understand, Pain-sama" Naruto said, trying his best to be respectful, he remembered what Itachi told him, " _When Pain calls, we obey"_ "However," Pain said after a long pause, "I still want to use your 'orb' as the satellite that we will use. However, my question and my assignment to you is, how big can you make it, while having enough chakra to give to Itachi and retaining the orb?" Pain asked Naruto, Naruto, just taken in by the task of making it big enough that all of the shinobi could see it, while giving chakra to Itachi so that he can project the Mangekyo Sharingan onto the orb.

"You will need to learn chakra control, I presume Itachi is already teaching you. You also need to expand your chakra reserves, a lot." Pain said, Naruto could sense a feeling of boredom in Pain, as if Pain was tired. Naruto shrugged it off as being nothing. "Yes Pain-sama. Itachi is teaching me and I will comply to your instructions." Naruto, again trying to respectful to Pain. He didn't want to get on the wrong side of Pain, that was certain.

"Good, you may go." Pain said, followed by Pain waving away Naruto. "Thanks, Pain-sama" Naruto spoke as he went to his room, only to find Itachi there, pondering over Naruto's belongings. "Ah, Naruto. You're back" Itachi said, sounding a bit surprised, although Naruto wasn't quite sure why. "Hey Itachi! When are we going to be training again?" Naruto said, returning to his former bright personality.

"Soon Naru" Itachi said with a smile on his face. "Hey!" Naruto said, now with a pout on his face "Why do you get to call me Naru but I can't call you Ita?" Naruto said, a stern and questioning voice.

"Alright alright, but if I call you Naru, you can call me Ita" Itachi said, he just loved being around the blonde, there was just something about him that was irresistible to him, but Itachi couldn't think like that, he had no romantic attraction to the blonde ' _Argh! Stop thinking like this Itachi!'_ Itachi thought mentally.

Before Naruto could say a word, Itachi said "I must ask Pain about something, didn't he say anything about me Naruto?" Itachi said, sounding bored. "Yes, he did. He said that you should start researching on how to get the Infinite Tsukuyomi all ready. He said something about a Mangekyo lasting for eternity, also he said that you should train me!" Naruto said sounding very jumpy, like he usually is.

"That's it!" spoke Itachi "Ohh Naruto! Thank you, you just made my day!" Itachi said, hearing surprise and joy from the raven, a first. "Hey Ita! Calm down, I just told you what you already knew" Naruto said in a calm voice. "Oh, but this changes everything, Naru." Itachi said, still over the moon with his 'finding' "Ita! Let's train!" Naruto said his normal, excited voice.

"Ok Naru!" Itachi said, still ecstatic. "Yay!" Naruto exclaimed.

As Naruto and Itachi went to the training grounds, Itachi asked Naruto, a bit more calmly this time "Hey Naruto, what do want to train on today?" "Oh Pain gave me an assignment, the doujutsu that I have and the Black Orb that I can create must be bigger and I should be able to lend my chakra to you as well. Pain said something about chakra control." Naruto said, sounding lazy and bored.

"Well, we already know that your chakra property is fire, so maybe you can combine that with your Rasengan." Itachi said in his normal, calm voice. "Hmm, I wonder what I would call that." Naruto said, then immediately putting a hand to his chin, a frowning expression. He was thinking.

"Naru, we'll think about that later." Itachi said in a concerned voice "Hey Ita, don't be so serious! Cheer up" Naruto said with a smile now lighting up his face. Itachi put his hand in the blonde's hair, ruffling it. "Ay! Ay Ita! Don't do that! You'll mess it up!" Naruto said with a playful annoyance.

"Let's train now shall we?" Itachi said, now with a smile on his face. "Sure!" Naruto said, sounding over the moon.

"Now, I want you to burn this leaf with your chakra only." Itachi said, "Sounds deceptively easy, but it isn't. Burn it until it is black, the leaf shouldn't exist anymore." Itachi continued.

"Got it!" Naruto said with determination. "Naruto, this is going to take a long, long time, so I have a hack." Itachi said, disrupting Naruto. "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, or Multiple Shadow Clones. A Shadow Clone will absorb all of the knowledge that you learn, when you dispel it, you still have everything that the Shadow Clone learnt. Say you create a thousand clones, as they are all practicing, it will reduce the time by…" "1000 times less." Naruto interrupted Itachi. "Precisely." Itachi said.

"Well, no time to waste!" Naruto exclaimed, as he made a thousand shadow clones, he really wants to get stronger, thought Itachi.

As Naruto began his training, Itachi watched him carefully, making sure to help if one of Naruto's clones went Kyuubi.

As the day came to a close, with both Naruto and Itachi tired out of their wits, they finally decided that they should go inside.

"So, Itachi, how was the training session?" Tobi asked. "Hn, good." The classic Uchiha reply.

Tobi mouthed a swear as he walked past Itachi, "I saw that Tobi!"

-Konoha-

Under a sky of perfect midnight velvet, the stars glimmering brightly, as if a million lights shining brightly, the moon lit up the Hokage Mountain, all the Hokages looking as serious as ever, but to 2 people, it looked gloomy. The whole village looked gloomy, as if it was missing something.

These two people were standing atop Hokage Mountain, both female figures. They watched as the village slept, a sense of calm. This wasn't how Konoha usually looked.

"Sakura," Tsunade said, "yes, Hokage-sama" Sakura replied, "It just feels like Konoha is missing something, don't you think?" Tsunade said, both of them understood. It was Naruto. He was the one thing that kept Konoha, bright and interesting.

"Sakura, have you ever heard the story of the Merchant in Samarra?" Tsunade asked. "No, I haven't" Sakura replied in a gloomy voice, a sigh escaping her mouth in the end.

"There was a merchant who lived in Baghdad. One day, he was told that death itself was in town. Fearing for his life, the merchant fled Baghdad, he sailed to a village called Samarra. Upon arriving at Samarra, he saw the grim figure of Death. The merchant wasn't surprised 'here I am,' said the merchant 'take me' Death, however, was. 'I shall' replied Death. 'However, I am shocked'."

" 'For I had an appointment with you tonight, in Baghdad." A tall, masculine figure interrupted Tsunade. One hand in his pocket, his masked face revealing only one eye, practically invisible in the dark. If it was not for his dark green Jounin vest. Yes, it was Kakashi.

"Who are you?!" Sakura shouted. Sakura started to stand up, but was signalled by Tsunade to sit. "What do you want, Kakashi?" Tsunade asked, "Tsunade, why do I sense a hint of sadness in your voice?" Kakashi asked, he needed to tread carefully, angering someone who is already angry, not such a good idea.

"Why?" Tsunade said, chuckling at the end. "Why?" She said a bit louder this time, she was now laughing completely. "WHY?" Tsunade said, now practically screaming.

"Because Naruto left the VILLAGE" going in a crescendo, the 'village' being the loudest word. Tsunade then proceeded to break down, crying as her hands cupped her eyes. The tears could be seen, as if there was a river stored in there.

"Kakashi, pl...please, go and help him." Tsunade said, now crying, Kakashi was surprised, not because he had never seen her cry before, but because her sobs didn't wake up the whole village.

"Where is he?" Kakashi asked, trying his best to be concernful. "he's … he's …" Tsunade said, unable to form coherent sentences at this time "akatsuki." That word, Kakashi stared up into the night sky, the horizon becoming shades of violet.

-The Next Day in Konoha-

Tsunade finally woke up, her vision still hazy from crying her eyes out the previous night. "Ahh, Tsunade, you're up." Kakashi said, sitting in one corner of the room, his right leg resting on his left, Kakashi was ready a book.

"Ughh," Tsunade groaned "I'm fine" Tsunade said. "Hmm, Kakashi. I have a mission for you" Tsunade said after a long pause of about a minute.

"Ohh, great. A-rank, no. B-rank" Kakashi said, bored of all of the B-rank missions. "No, S-rank." Tsunade said, seeing the gleam in Kakashi's eyes, she knew that Kakashi wanted to jump up and scream his lungs out because of the sheer excitement.

"Oh YES!" Kakashi screamed in excitement. "Thank Kami! Thank you Tsunade!" Kakashi continued rambling on, running back and forth. Tsunade chuckled, when Kakashi did return back to Tsunade, he asked "Okay, what is it?"

"Rescue and bring back Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki, reach as far as you need to." Tsunade said, being serious. It was hard for her to even say his name, "I should warn you, he is under the security of your previous Uchiha friend, along with Pain and others. He is in the Akatsuki." Tsunade spoke, Kakashi could sense the sadness in her voice, it was trembling.

Apart from that, Kakashi was scared, the target was under the protection of some of the most powerful missing-nins in the whole of the shinobi world, including his former ANBU partner, and friend, Itachi Uchiha.

-Akatsuki Hideout-

It was morning, and after a quick breakfast of rice with Miso soup, Naruto and Itachi were sitting at the table. They had an appointment with Pain, Pain had called them to warn them about an 'oncoming threat'.

After Pain had had his breakfast, he came to the table where he saw Naruto and Itachi silently waiting, they were sitting in a normal fashion with Itachi's left leg resting on his right.

The room itself was dark. The walls made out of stone, moss was creeping up the sides and the corners of the room. Water stains could be seen clearly, the walls themselves had dark patches dotted around the walls. One, solitary light hole was placed in the ceiling, the sunbeam that pierced the sheer darkness of the room landed dead center, on the wooden table.

Naruto and Itachi sat on 2 of the 7 wooden chairs. The chairs were worn out by excessive use.

"Hello Naruto and Itachi." Pain said, dragging a chair toward the center of the room, right in front of the two. "Pain-sama, you told us about an 'oncoming threat' " Itachi stood up for a second, bowing down, then returning back to his posture. Naruto followed suit.

"Yes, I have detected a threat, or more precisely, Tobi has." Pain said as he sat down. "There is good news and bad news" Pain said, a sigh escaping his mouth as he finished the sentence.

After a minute of pause, Naruto said "Pain-sama, could you please tell us the news. Doesn't matter in which order." Naruto said in a respectful tone

"Yes, that. I forgot." Pain said. _That is not like himself_ thought Itachi.

"The good news. Naruto and Itachi get their first killing together. Naruto gets a practical mission, out in the real world." Pain said, the monotone voice echoing around the room. "The bad news. It's a Konoha shinobi, more specifically, your old sensei, and Itachi's ANBU teammate." Itachi and Naruto both immediately knew who it was. "Kakashi of the Sharingan." They all said in unison.

After a minute of pause in the conversation,"When is he estimated to arrive?" Naruto asked in a monotone voice, much like Pain's own. "The day after" Pain responded.

"Do not let emotion cloud your abilities. That goes for the both of you." Pain said, leaning forwards as he spoke the words. "Naruto, he is Jounin. This is a test of your skill, Itachi is going with you, like I specified. In case you fail, or exhaust yourself, Itachi will be there. Teamwork is key. Do not, I repeat do not, underestimate Kakashi."

Both Naruto and Itachi nodded. "Naruto, the Doujutsu of yours, can it do anything besides the orb?" Itachi asked. "I don't know Itachi. Maybe, but I have only used it twice. Once in Konohagakure and once here." Naruto replied, turning his head towards Itachi. Naruto then proceeded to put his thumb and finger on his chin, slightly cupping it. He looked around the room, to the walls with dark blotches on them.

"Well," Naruto said "There was this one time where I launched a wave of chakra, sort of like a pushback. It critically wounded the villagers." Naruto said, not sure if this would help. Itachi dragged his chair closer to Naruto, drawing a white line in the floor below, the chair making a scraping noise that resonated throughout the poorly lit room.

"Naruto, can you demonstrate?" Itachi said, about an arm's distance away from Naruto "Yes, I hope so anyways." Naruto responded, feeling a bit unsure of himself.

"Let's go outside." Pain said.

As Naruto closed his eyes, his whiskers darkened, around his eyes appeared a grey outline, as if he was sleep deprived, only darker. Both Pain and Itachi felt the chakra ooze, distributing around the back training area. With sudden movement, Naruto opened his eyes, a sound similar to a sword being removed from its sheath could be heard. As his pupils turned into slits, the circles appeared in his eyes, the 6 tomoe rearranging themselves into a configuration similar to a fully matured Sharingan, with 3 going closer to the central dot, and the remaining 3 going toward the outer ring.

His eyes darkened to a shade of crimson red, like blood. As Naruto's doujutsu took form, he started to growl. He was getting angrier. Pain had seen his Doujutsu before, but he still flinched. Itachi took a small step back.

As Naruto channeled his chakra into his hands and abdomen, he could feel the shock and pain in his eyes. He was using too much chakra. Nevertheless, he kept channeling chakra into his abdomen and hands. With one mighty growl, he told his brain to release the chakra, his brain agreed, and what followed, could only be described as destruction.

As the chakra was released, a blue circle appeared around Naruto and expanded, destroying the wooden dummies, all the while a droning sound could be heard, coming from the shockwave. The dummies snapped, making the loudest snaps of wood. The dummy's head snapping clear off. The wave reached Pain, hitting them hard in the abdomen. Pain was able to stand after getting hit, Itachi too but just barely.

After the droning sound subsided, Itachi saw Naruto laying on the ground, fainted. "Naruto!" Itachi shouted as he rushed over to Naruto, Pain followed. The room that was previously filled with wood dummies and thick concrete could now be seen as a wasteland for ninja training materials. Wooden dummies fallen over, a slice in the concrete walls, the windows, covered by rice paper, now obliterated, shred to pieces, the glass, shattered.

Of course, Itachi didn't pay attention to all that, but Pain did. Itachi aided Naruto, after everyone heard the sound coming from the training room, Deidara rushed over there.

"What happened?" Deidara asked, kneeling down, helping Naruto as well.

"Naruto showed us what he is capable of" Pain's monotone voice responded. Deidara immediately understood.

-Naruto's Room-

As Naruto awoke from his slumber, he saw, well a blurry image of the ceiling. "Ugh" Naruto groaned. Naruto tilted his head sideways, only to see the raven sleeping next to him, it was their shared room after all, so he didn't think much of it.

As he sat up, he woke the sleeping Itachi. "Mm?" was all Itachi had to say "Oh Naruto," Itachi said, after a second of pause, he said "You're up."

"Yes Ita, I'm up." Naruto retorted in a playful manner. As Itachi woke up, Naruto said "Did you see the shockwave that I told you about?" "Yes, Naruto, I did." Itachi replied, still sleepy.

"Oh yeah, Pain wants to meet you" Itachi said. "Okay Ita" Naruto said, slightly fed up of all of these meetings with Pain.

As Naruto made his way out of the room into the narrow hallway, he saw, once again the room that he had seen many a times before. It was the main entrance room. It was probably the most beautiful room of all.

There was a couch of tan colour, next to it on both sides were green plants, followed by a portrait of all of the members of the Akatsuki, with a recently added Naruto, in his signature orange robe.

There were 2 other armchairs, also of tan colour. The walls were a pure white, a sort of soap colour. In the center, a light blue carpet, patterned at every angle, it stood brightly amongst the walls. The sofa was well maintained, and it was on this sofa that he saw Pain.

"Come Naruto, come" Pain said, a hint of happiness in his voice, again, not a common sight.

"My greetings, Pain-sama" Naruto responded respectfully as he sat down on the couch, making a gentle squeaking sound. Naruto's back was towards the right hand side plant. Pain turned to face Naruto, just as he was about say something, he heard the front boulder being broken.

Naruto, in a sudden movement got out his kunai and got into a battle stance. Through the mist, he could see a tall figure, masculine no doubt.

As the mist cleared, Naruto looked at the bright green vest, he knew who this was, and he knew why he was here. His suspicions were confirmed when the mist finally did clear, revealing a man with one eye revealed, the second eye, hidden behind his Konoha forehead protector.

It was the copy ninja, Kakashi of the Sharingan


	3. The Fight and Information

Chapter 3

 _Previously, On Death Moon "As the mist cleared, Naruto looked at the bright green vest, he knew who this was, and he knew why he was here. It was the copy ninja, Kakashi of the Sharingan"_

 _Hehe, sorry guys for taking so long to update the story. Anyways, Chapter 3, Kakashi on a mission to retrieve Naruto. Will Naruto be taken back to the village, or will he stay here? Will Naruto win? Read to find out! All ownership of characters goes to Masashi Kishimoto and Shounen Jump. Plot is my own._

 _-Made by FanFictor723 and a friend_

It seemed as if no-one moved for an eternity. When Kakashi did have the courage to take a step towards the most powerful and dangerous criminals in all of the elemental nations, Naruto returned the favour.

Moving one step closer to Kakashi, Naruto asked "Well, Kakashi. Never expected to see you here" followed by a smirk. Kakashi, being truthful responded "Never expected you to stoop so low" There was venom in his voice, and Naruto could sense it.

Kakashi wouldn't show it, but his mind was a mix of emotions. Anger and hatred and guilt and sorrow and… sadness. He was partly to be blamed, he favored one student over the other, and completely neglected him. Now, as a result, he had lost both students, and both were chasing the same goal. Power. It was reasonable from Naruto's perspective, after all, he had been through so much. Torturing, beating, neglection. It shocked Kakashi that Naruto hadn't done this a long time ago. Naruto was about 13 now, and he had been through this since he was 4!

Kakashi never realized the impact that his favouritism would have on Naruto. Although he claimed himself a sensei, a teacher to Naruto, he was not deserving of such a title. While Kakashi was thinking, Naruto lunged at him. Kakashi, obviously lost in thought, only had time to move to his right. Naruto saw this, and quickly rolled onto the floor, and turned to face Kakashi. The 2 ninjas, student and teacher faced off against each-other in a battle of glares. Kakashi, calm but with a hint of nervousness, which was unlike the copy-nin. Naruto, with a glare of determination and a hint of rage.

Naruto lunged forward, drawing 2 kunais from his pockets. His legs tucked back, he looked like a lion lunging for prey. He aimed to sink both kunais into Kakashi's shoulders. A scream came out from Naruto's mouth as he was about to land the kunais onto his target. Kakashi did nothing but push him away. Naruto went smashing into the wall. Kakashi ran towards him, while throwing 3 kunais at him. His aim was not to kill, but to immobilize.

The 3 kunais that were thrown were perfectly aimed, 2 on either side of Naruto's head, and one down near his, well private areas. _That bastard_ , thought Naruto. In a flash, Kakashi was holding a kunai to Naruto's throat. Itachi, who was standing by Pain's left side grunted and attempted to go and kill Kakashi from the backside. In a small jerk, Itachi tried to move, but was held back by Pain. Pain grabbed Itachi's right arm to say "don't". Itachi looked at Pain with an expression of, "if I don't, our new asset will not survive." Pain understood, but still said "Wait, Itachi, he's got this".

Naruto simply smirked and vanished in a poof. "Huh?" Exclaimed Kakashi. From behind, Naruto kicked Kakashi in the head, which led to him crashing into the wall. Now Naruto dragged him down to the floor. Kakashi quickly turned over and struck Naruto in the face, distracting him long enough for Kakashi to get back on his feet. With a roundhouse kick, Kakashi went flying back into the white wall. Now, Naruto closed his eyes. His whiskers began to darken to shade of red. With a sharp sound, as if a sword was removed from its sheath, he opened his eyes. A crimson colored eye with 6 tomoe was seen. Dark circles formed underneath Naruto's eye. Naruto roared like a lion asserting its rule over its kingdom.

When he looked in front of him, he could not see Kakashi. Out of no-where, Kakashi came and attempted to strike Naruto with a right hook to the back of his head. Naruto simply turned to his right and grabbed Kakashi's arm, and threw him down to the ground. Kakashi swiftly stood back up with a hop, and he was back on his feet. After a minute of pause, Naruto took a step forward, a kunai still clenched firmly in his hand, to which Kakashi reacted by drawing out 2 kunais of his own, while running towards Naruto with lightning fast speed.

Naruto of course sensed the danger and jumped up and swung his kunai at Kakashi, now a good 2 foot below him, dead center of the small hall. Kakashi dodged, and Naruto landed on his own feet, right behind Kakashi. Kakashi facing a smirking Pain now, sitting lazily on the sofa, with Itachi, his old friend to Pain's left side. Naruto swung his grew kunai at the middle of Kakashi's back, Kakashi, of course sensed this and parried Naruto's blow with two kunai of his own, crossing them to make an X, with Naruto's own kunai landing right at the center point of the X. Metal struck metal with a loud clash. Itachi cringed slightly from the sound.

Kakashi, turning abruptly swung his fist at Naruto's face, aiming for the center, his nose. Naruto, moving swiftly, leaned to the right, avoiding the punch. Naruto moved so fast that Kakashi still had his arm out-streched. Naruto quickly ran to Kakashi's backside, and proceeded to stab him with his kunai.

However, Kakashi could sense this. He had activated his doujutsu, the Sharingan, which is how he got his name. Although it wasn't a Mangekyo yet, it was enough to track and sense Naruto's movements. Quickly turning around, Kakashi grabbed Naruto's wrist, and hard enough to make Naruto release the kunai he was so firmly gripping.

Currently unknown to Kakashi, Naruto had a shadow clone which he had formed before the battle with Kakashi. Now, this clone moved swiftly towards Kakashi, kicking him on the left side of his head. Kakashi fell to his right side, which gave both Naruto and his clone the perfect opportunity to beat him up.

Kakashi used the substitution jutsu and was gone in a puff of smoke, and all that was left was a log. Both Naruto and his clone were confused. _Substitution Jutsu_ , thought Itachi. Out of nowhere, Kakashi appeared behind Naruto and his clone. A swift blow to Naruto's clone's head and the clone was gone in a puff.

Naruto remembered what he had done before, with the massive shockwave that had obliterated everything within its radius of about 15 meters. He tried to do something similar. He started to growl, getting angry.

No anger came within him.

He had nothing to be angry about. Naruto tried and tried, but he could not muster up any anger. Meanwhile, Naruto didn't see that Kakashi was charging up a Raikiri. As Kakashi was charging this up, Naruto had his eyes closed. _Open your eyes Naruto!_ Thought Itachi, with a desperate face.

Kakashi charged towards him, with his Raikiri completely ready to hit Naruto in the right leg. Remember, his aim was to immobilize, not to kill. Tsunade wanted Naruto back.

Naruto still had his eyes closed. Kakashi jumped, with his right leg in front of his left. A lightning spear in his hand, it seemed as if time slowed down for Kakashi. It felt wrong to impale your own student with a giant lightning bolt. _I'm sorry, Naruto._ Kakashi thought. Time seemingly slowed down for Itachi. He had already taken a liking to the blonde, not just because of the jinchuuriki aspect, but because he genuinely liked Naruto's bubbly personality, and his positive outlook towards most things.

Kakashi, now about 3 feet above Naruto, was slowly (in the mind of Kakashi) falling towards Naruto. His right hand, in which was the Raikiri, was cocked back. Aiming at Naruto's legs, Kakashi started to extend his right hand, in a punch-like movement. He hoped that Naruto would stay still for this whole time.

And then, Naruto opened his eyes.

He saw Kakashi coming down on him. They made eye contact for a brief second in the real world, but to Naruto and Kakashi, it seemed as if it was for a year. Naruto couldn't do much to evade, however, he wanted to try. He got into a crouched position so as to evade Kakashi's Raikiri. However, he realised it was too late, and that he had made it worse for himself.

SHING!

Then there was what felt like an eternity of pause. No-one said anything. Itachi was shocked. His mouth opened. He was stupid not to help Naruto who was a mere genin in the face of a high Jounin. The rest of the Akatsuki members who were in the compound came running out from the narrow hallway into the small living room.

They saw the tragic incident.

Deidara gasped, and then proceeded to place his hand over his mouth. He was shocked. Konan stood beside Deidara, and had pretty much the same reaction as Itachi. The red-haired Sasori could not bear to see this. He immediately gave a small welp and ran back into the corridor.

Kakashi himself was shocked at what he had done. A single tear rolled down Kakashi's left eye. Something similar had happened on a past mission which both Kakashi and one member of the Akatsuki remembered very well.

"Na… Na… Nar… Naruto." Softly stammered Kakashi. Naruto lifted his head up and Naruto and his old sensei made eye contact. Kakashi's eyes widened, more than Naruto ever saw them widen. He was whimpering, and for the first time, Naruto had seen Kakashi sad.

Naruto coughed a bit, which broke the silence in the room. The one solitary light that was in the middle of the room started to flicker. "No... no... no... no, no, no NO!" Said Kakashi, softly at first, but in a crescendo ending with what could confidently be called a scream. "Why...why" Kakashi softly whimpered. No other words could escape his mouth. Kakashi bowed his head and let a few tears fall from his eyes.

He lifted his eyes up to see Naruto. He had that classic Naruto smile. He missed having that around in Konoha and his Team 7. The substitute ninja, Sai was too cold and Sakura was quite annoying. He enjoyed having Sasuke around, at least before he left for power. However, it needed Naruto's bright and cheerful attitude.

"I… I…" was all that came out of Kakashi's mouth. "Kaka-sensei" muttered Naruto. Kakashi lifted his head to meet Naruto's blue eyes. "Naruto… I'm… I'm… I'm sorry Naruto." Kakashi spoke softly. He let small sobs escape his mouth, for he had killed Konoha's sunshine.

Kakashi's Raikiri had struck Naruto straight in the heart.

I guess he would end up on _that_ stone after all.

He felt like a failure. What sort of sensei was he if he couldn't even protect his students. If he couldn't teach them all, and if he preferred one student over the other. A failure of a sensei, according to Kakashi.

Naruto coughed up blood. "Kakashi" muttered Naruto. Kakashi looked at the blonde with a feeling of hope, but mixed with despair. "Goodbye… sensei" said Naruto, softly, followed by a faint smile. Then, Naruto's eyes closed.

"Pain!" Itachi said, angrily. "I could have saved him! Why didn't you give me the chance!?" Pain remained neutral. A smirk eventually crept up onto his face. "Watch this." Itachi was completely dumbfounded, he was surprised at the determination that Pain had in the blonde. It was never a fair fight to begin with. A mere Genin, maybe a low Chuunin against an S-rank Jounin.

"What do you mean Pain?" Itachi said with a hint of anger in his voice, yet still a normal talking level. "Watch him get killed?" Itachi said in a slightly louder and angrier voice. "Itachi…" Pain said in a stern voice, only to be cut off by an angered Itachi. "No, Pain, this is just wrong" Itachi said in an assertive voice. "Itachi." Pain said in a louder voice, as he was getting annoyed. "Pain! Listen to me. Do you want him to get killed?" Itachi said, "It was never a fair fight, why would you do that…" Itachi was cut off "ITACHI!" Pain said in way to angrily. This made Itachi fall quit. Itachi gave out a 'humph,' a sign of his irritation.

Itachi tried to take a step forward, but was blocked by Pain. Not knowing what to do, and it was best not to get into a fight with Pain, Itachi stepped back.

Kakashi was heartbroken. He had killed one of his students. Driven a raikiri straight through his heart. He was so used to seeing Naruto smiling and carefree, it hurt him to see him like this. Although he had never paid too much attention to the blonde, and had neglected him and favoured Sasuke, he loved the boy's attitude. Konoha's number one most unpredictable ninja.

The village had felt dull ever since he left. No life, just a monotonous machine, doing the same thing over and over again. No-one chasing a boy in an orange jumpsuit, no-one to scrub off the paint from Hokage mountain or the buildings. It was all the same. Nothing interesting.

"I guess you only know what you're missing when you don't have it anymore," thought Kakashi. "I'm sorry… Naruto." Whatever Kakashi did, he couldn't remove his hand from Naruto's body. "Goodbye indeed, sensei" Whispered a voice much like Naruto's own. Poof! Naruto's body was gone. "Huh?" Said Kakashi, perplexed.

"RASENGAN!" Cried a voice from behind Kakashi. Kakashi looked back and found Naruto in the air, with a technique all too familiar to him. The Rasengan. Developed by the 4th Hokage, Naruto's dad.

Kakashi tried to move his right hand, but for some reason he couldn't. Naruto's Rasengan was going to hit Kakashi straight in the face.

And it did.

"Naruto…" mumbled Itachi, lost for words. "Hm" smirked pain, clearly directed at Itachi. Itachi gave no response.

-Time Skip, 8 Hours later-

Kakashi woke up, not quite knowing where he was, he was surrounded by grey walls with a little water damage done to them. Parts of the grey walls were chipped off, it was a mixture of light and dark tones.

Kakashi tried to move his arms, but quickly found out that they were tied to the back of a wooden chair. In front of him, Pain. Sitting on a wooden chair himself. To his left, a neutral Itachi and to his right, his student. Naruto.

"Kakashi of the Sharingan" Pain said, in his ever so serious voice. "Well, to what do we owe the honour to?" Pain remarked as he shifted to his left in his seat. Kakashi refused to say anything.

"We want an explanation why you came to the hideout, Kakashi." Itachi said, emphasizing on Kakashi's name. A hint of anger in his voice was visible to all 3 of the other men in the room. Kakashi was reluctant. He would not give up any information.

"Just let me go back to Konoha." Kakashi said, to which Pain laughed. "We will, of course, but we need to know why you were here." Pain gave a half-smile. "It was a mission to retrieve me, no doubt." Naruto said, vexed. Kakashi sighed, he would have to tell them, or a long and painful death would be waiting.

"Yes, Naruto is correct. It was a mission to retrieve him and bring him back to Konoha. An S-Rank mission assigned only to me." Kakashi said. "Given to me by, and on the village's behalf. By Tsunade." Kakashi sighed at the end, as he knew what Naruto's reaction would be.

"The village?" Naruto questioned in sceptical tone. "Yes, the village" Kakashi said heavily. "What a joke…" Naruto spoke, in awe that something that nearly killed him since as long as he could remember, would want him back. He remembered vividly, the long scythes and knives. The beatings from whip, hand and foot. He remembered the feeling of cold steel cut across various parts of his body, his wrists, his back, his chest, and his legs, while he screamed in pain.

"Naruto, please, I am not joking. We need you. We miss you, Naruto." The silver haired Jounin was cut off by an angered Naruto. " **Miss** me?" He emphasized in the word "miss". "Has one regular civilian, or one ninja who didn't know me personally, commented anything even remotely close to feeling sad that I, Naruto Uzumaki, have left the village?" Naruto spoke those lines very loudly. It was evident that he was angry.

It was undoubtedly wrong to mention the village that had done atrocious things to Naruto would want him back.

-Flashback, 1 day ago-

Kakashi walked down the streets of Konoha, reading his favourite book, Icha Icha. The silver haired jounin was quite taken back and still in a minor shock that one of his students who, even though he would not show it, cared a lot about, had left the village.

He wanted to continue reading, but his memories were filled with the blonde ninja. Him always smiling and happy. He was pretty heartbroken that the boy had left. Now it seemed that the village was quite mediocre.

He could hear whispers as he walked down the streets. "Hey did you hear that the demon left for good?" a civilian said. "Haha! Good riddance!" A few other civilians laughed. Kakashi was outraged by this.

Kakashi walked hastily down the street, he could not bear to hear this about a boy. The same boy who had given Konoha life, much like his father. However, nothing improved. There were only constant murmurs and whispers concerning the boy. He walked down to Naruto's favourite place, Ichiraku Ramen.

He saw the old man Teuchi standing in the shop. He remembered when he and the team had passed his bell test, how happy Naruto was. It was his idea to go to Ichiraku's to celebrate. He vividly remembered when they came back from his first mission, Naruto treated them to Ichiraku's.

He remembered the times when Naruto was stuffing his face with as much ramen as he could, like an idiot. Naruto would always look over to Kakashi and give him that massive grin of his.

He chuckled at that memory. It wasn't often that you see Kakashi chuckle, away from his book. "Hello Teuchi" Kakashi said with a hint of glum evident in his voice. He sat down on the stool with a sigh. "Bothering you, is it?" Iruka questioned with a voice not much different from Kakashi's. Kakashi tilted his head towards his right and gave a brief nod. A sad, yet evident sign of approval.

Iruka looked up to the shades of orange, dark blue, navy blue and purple that were painted across the Konoha evening sky. He was yet to sit down. After maybe a minute, Iruka sighed. He sat down to Kakashi's left and told Teuchi for 2 Miso Pork Ramen, Naruto's favourite.

"No Iruka, I think I'm quite alright without any ramen." Kakashi said, clearly feeling melancholic. "C'mon Kakashi. Eat, my treat." Iruka said, trying to get the silver haired Jounin to be a little happier. "Hm," Kakashi inwardly laughed. "This was Naruto's favourite spot." Kakashi said, reminiscing about the old times of Team 7.

"I know, half the time he was here with me." Iruka said, a silent laugh at the end. He turned his vision from the counter to Kakashi. He saw Kakashi simply staring at his bowl of ramen, not eating it. "I don't know why it's bothering me so much, it's…" Kakashi said, not knowing what to say.

"He's special Kakashi. You just don't come across that type of person everyday." Iruka said, knowing full well that that was true. Kakashi nodded in agreement. He slammed his wrist on the wooden table. "Damnit, it's all their fault." Kakashi said, pointing outside the ramen shop, to the villagers no less, the so called civilians.

"There's nothing civil about these civilians" Kakashi said, angered. Iruka wouldn't show too much emotion but he did agree with Kakashi's statement. It was horrifying that they would beat a boy the age for 4, over a thing that he had no control of. "Yeah, I can agree." Iruka said, disgusted.

The next few minutes of conversation were silent, but was then broken by Sakura entering the shop. "Hey guys, hello Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura said enthusiastically. Her greeting was returned by Iruka, and was partly returned by Kakashi by a simple raise of his left hand. She found Kakashi stirring the ramen noodles, not eating them.

"Are you bothered sensei?" Sakura asked Kakashi as she sat down to the left of Iruka. Kakashi responded with a simple "maybe." Sakura didn't fully understand this response. Kakashi was often very straightforward with what he wanted to say. "Sensei, what's bothering you?" Sakura questioned in a gentle voice, she wasn't expecting the answer she got. "Naruto… his absence is… I don't know… worrying. It feels off. Like someone took away the beauty from a perfect painting." Kakashi said, a mix of glumness and defeat evident in his voice.

"Pffft!" Sakura said which grabbed the attention of both the ninjas. "It's good riddance that he left! He was the demon after all!" Sakura bellowed, which caused all 3 of the men in the shop to stare at her as if she had committed a bank robbery in public.

"Sakura… You're one of them." Iruka said, in disbelief. "I'm being resonab…" Sakura was cut off by Kakashi throwing his chopsticks at Sakura. "Idiot." Kakashi said, his sole response through that period. "My mom told me that he had the demon fox sealed inside him. He was responsible for the attacks on October 10th!" Kakashi sighed and facepalmed.

She was dumbfounded. "My mom wouldn't lie to me, would she?" Sakura thought. "Listen Sakura. Look at this analogy. Here's a scroll. Here's a kunai. A kunai is a weapon that can be used to kill people, correct." Sakura dumbly nodded her head, "Now, if I seal this kunai, a weapon of death, into this completely harmless scroll, who has no control of what I'm going to do. Is the scroll the kunai?" Iruka said, trying to be as gentle and polite as he can.

"No! Of course not." Sakura bellowed. "Isn't it the same case with Naruto?" Iruka proceeded to question the pink-haired girl. "NO! HE IS A DEMON WHO DESTROYED OUR VILLAGE!" Sakura said, still confident in her beliefs.

"I'm sorry Iruka, I'll go. Here's the money for the ramen. Goodbye." Kakashi said, handing Iruka 5 coins. He waved his hand a little bit as he exited the shop. Iruka exited soon after to find the jounin, but he couldn't find him.

Kakashi was on top of the hokage mountain. His body over the head of his previous sensei, and Naruto's father, Minato Namikaze. "Sensei, I'm sorry. I knew it was my fault." Kakashi said, looking outwards to Konoha.

He was seeing the sunset. The bright orange sun was going down, and soon there was only the light that it shed, an orange colour. The daytime was the only time when things were alive, when you could do something, and only when the day is gone do you realise that you want it back again. Now, all that was left was the impact that it made.

The bright and vibrant streaks of orange that once shone with an even more powerful radiance were beginning to be engulfed by the darker shades of red, and eventually the darkest of them all. Black.

It was now only the memory of the radiance that the light provided in the midst of the darkness that was evident throughout the sky, and Kakashi saw it all. Through and through.

A look of failure was plastered across his face, he looked down at the famous "Yellow Flash" knowing that this isn't what Minato would have wanted. He would be disappointed in Naruto, but even more disappointed in the villagers, his own people, torturing his son and beating him to near death.

"Goodbye sensei" Kakashi said, as he got up dejectedly.

-End Flashback-

Kakashi looked at Naruto and said, "It seems that they haven't, Naruto." A voice of a man that had an unrealistic belief, and was shunned away was the voice those words were said in.

It was much like Naruto.

Naruto would respond with a "Hn" like the Uchiha standing not far away. He knew it was assigned to Kakashi by Tsunade, but only because she loved him. He thought that it may have something to do with Danzo, as there were conversations he overheard in the Third Hokage's office about using Naruto and the Kyuubi inside of him as a weapon.

His beliefs were confirmed when he heard about the use of Jinchuurikis as nothing more than a political tool. It also may be that Tsunade was the only person to ever act as a parent for Naruto, apart from the Third Hokage. Tsunade wants Naruto back.

"Naruto, please, come back!" Kakashi said, one of his desperate, but unsuccessful attempts to get Naruto to turn. It was something that Naruto would not do. "Remember your ninja way? Remember that. "I never go back on my word, and I'm gonna protect everyone I love!" what happened to that Naruto?"

"It died the day I was beaten to near death by the villagers, with broken ribs, a broken cheekbone and a broken right leg." Naruto said, recounting the memories of that fateful night that nearly killed him.

"If it wasn't for Tsunade, I wouldn't be living, Kakashi." Naruto said, a word of thanks to the slug summoner was said in his mind. "Then do it for her, Naruto. Come back. She misses you so much. She cried for 5 hours straight 2 days after news of your turn on the village was given to her. Come back to her Naruto. She will ensure your safety, I will ensure that something like that night never happens to you! It's my promise, Naruto." Kakashi said, trying to break free of the rope that bound him to the chair.

"The council wanted to label you a missing-nin! She persuaded them that you would come back. Think of the repercussions that she will be facing! Think of Tsunade!" Kakashi said, trying to get to the blonde-haired kid's emotions. It wasn't working right now.

"ENOUGH!" Roared Naruto. It was loud, very loud. Kakashi had given the Akatsuki the information that they were after, but they wanted to take it a step further. They wanted to know what they were planning to do to retrieve the Jinchuuriki. It was obviously of some importance to them so they would do anything in their power to retrieve Naruto.

"Kakashi, what are your plans to retrieve Naruto?" Pain asked, his monotonous and deep voice ever so slightly undulating. "I… I don't know." Kakashi said, with a voice of uncertainty. He didn't know what would happen.

"You must know something… Kakashi." Itachi said, emphasizing Kakashi's name. "All I know was that Tsunade classified this as an S-Rank mission. It carried some weight to the seriousness and the desperation that Tsunade was trying to convey." Kakashi said, a small hint of nervousness was mixed into Kakashi's normal voice, and rightfully so. He was standing in front of 2 of the most powerful and dangerous criminals in the Elemental Nations.

"Good, Kakashi." Pain said, a smirk spreading across his face, soon after he said those words. Naruto approached Kakashi. It would be the final thing he would remember from his encounter with Naruto and the Akatsuki, for now. A loud thump, aimed at his head.

Blackout.


	4. The Future and Konoha, Again

Chapter 4

 _Previously, on Death Moon, "It would be the final thing he would remember from his encounter with Naruto and the Akatsuki, for now. A loud thump, aimed at his head. Blackout."_

 _Hey guys! Thank you so much for reading this book, it really means a lot to me. Chapter 4, what will happen to Kakashi? What will the Akatsuki do now? Will Kakashi die? Read to find out! Also, parts of this book sync very well to Rachmaninoff's "Prelude in C Sharp Minor" I would highly recommend listening and reading this book at the same time. Thank you!_

 _Disclaimer: Ownership of the series "Naruto" and "Naruto Shippūden" and all of its characters respectively goes to Masashi Kishimoto and Shounen Jump. Plot is owned by me and is my intellectual property._

 _-Made by FanFictor723 and a friend_

It was hours later when Kakashi finally regained his senses, he was out in the middle of nowhere. The sun was high in the sky and peeking through the leaves of the trees lining the streets over his head. The weather was fair. A nice warm day.

Perhaps the most noticeable thing in the whole place was the one unpaved road that ran more or less dead center of the area. The path was a sea of brown and a few silver-grey rocks could be found in wide contrast to the rest of the road.

The road contained gentle bumps, which were un-noticeable when one started to walk on it. The long brown path was surrounded by an abyss of almost every shade of green, all the way from the chartreuse, chlorophyll deprived leaves to the vibrance of the emerald green that was found amidst the juniper and shamrock colours. It was the one that stood out of all of the others.

Up in front, apart from the endless miles of road, was the beauty of the sky. The light shades of blue in the sky signified a peace, and it was only blue that filled the sky, and the various hues of blues was only occasionally interrupted by a small patch of white, floating through the sky.

Kakashi found himself on this road. He hadn't the slightest idea where he was. He woke up, groggy from the hit that he remembered as is most recent encounter from the world's deadliest criminals.

Kakashi, with his black t-shirt and his green flak-jacket was lying face first on the road. His mask was dirty, which made sense as he was on a dirt road. He groaned as he sat up, he looked around his to find nothing but the endless road, surrounded by green and blue. He sat on the ground for a while before he got up to his feet. He wanted to know the way back to Konoha, but there was no sign nearby.

Kakashi felt something in his pockets. It was a piece of paper, rolled up tightly, and sealed by a rubber-band wrapped 3 times around the small scroll. He undid the rubber band and unrolled the scroll. On it, the words "Do NOT come near us, ever again. He is no longer yours, don't even try to take him back."

Below the message, the Akatsuki symbol and a small sign of Pain, and… Naruto. An arrow pointing to the east of where Kakashi was currently standing was on the scroll as well. If he was still in the rain country, he had to go east to reach Konoha. He decided to follow east. He took his first step

And so began his long and perilous journey.

-Akatsuki Headquarters-

Naruto was lying in his room fast asleep, evidently tired from the battle he had just won. Next to the blond Jinchuuriki was the Uchiha, his right hand on Naruto's right leg, gently moving back and forth. He was looking just to the left of where Naruto was. Itachi was still amazed at the blonde's fighting capabilities, winning the fight against a high Jounin like that. Incredible, every moment of it was like a movie, action, drama, tension, suspense, relief. It kept you at the edge of your seat and was a pleasure only to those who were lucky enough to view it in real time.

Itachi had been next to Naruto for a few hours now, doing nothing but gently moving his hand back and forth. He now looked over to the blonde, sound asleep. Eventually, there was a sign of activity from Naruto, he shifted over to his left, his eyes opening slowly.

"About time you got up" Itachi said, looking at the blonde. All he got back was incoherent mumbling. "Pain wanted to see you as soon as you got up, I was there to make sure that you didn't go off to sleep again." Itachi said, in a sort of bored voice. "Do I have to go?" Questioned an extremely sleepy Naruto.

"Don't you remember what I told you Naruto? When Pain calls we have to come. Plus, it's a board meeting, so all the Akatsuki members will be there." Itachi said, simultaneously shaking the blonde to wake him up. "Alright, alright. You go and tell them I'll be coming soon" Naruto said, as he got up, unwillingly, and went to the bathroom to his left.

The bathroom was neat, clean, orderly. Everything in its proper place. The mirror spotless, the walls too. Itachi had taken good care of the bathroom and it showed. The cool grey square tiles of the walls that was contrasted by the titanium white painted directly over them was vivid and clean. No water stains or cracking or fading. Even the high corners were clean and utterly devoid of cobwebs or any sign of dirt.

The metal that the taps and flush lever were made out of were rust free, and the holster for any products that was directly underneath the mirror was in a similar condition.

He locked the door and started to undress from his sleeping clothes, a green elastic pair of shorts and a jet black T-Shirt with the Uzumaki crest on the front printed in red. He had never understood the meaning of the shirt. Where it came from, who gave it to him, and what the spiral meant, he knew not. The spiral looked similar to the one on his stomach.

He wondered if Pain had the answers to all these questions and numerous more that had previously gone unanswered. It was something that Naruto wanted. He remembered the promise that Pain had made him just days ago, to get the answers.

He pulled on his black pants that had been generously provided by the Akatsuki. They were almost completely jet black, two zips on either sides for storage purposes. Off to the left side of the pants was the Akatsuki branding of the red and white cloud. He changed into a white shirt which had no branding or designs on it, and over the white he pulled the black cloak with the orange clouds which had been specifically designed for him.

He unlocked the bathroom and went outside to the meeting area. He knocked on the wooden door and partially opened it. "May I come in?" Asked Naruto, getting a response from Pain fairly quickly. Naruto came into the room and saw dark oak wood paneled walls which were near perfectly kept except for a few cracks in the top right corner.

In the middle of the room was a wooden table of circular shape that was about 75 inches long. On it were all the members of the Akatsuki sitting in wooden chairs. Pain, the leader was sitting in a larger, black chair to signify the position of leadership. To Pain's right, Itachi sitting on the same chair as everyone else. To the left of Itachi was an empty seat, on which Naruto quickly sat down.

"Alright, now that we're all here, we can begin the meeting." Pain said, declaring the meeting started. "We, the Akatsuki are here to discuss our future plans in the next few months. I shall tell the goals we have to accomplish, and if you have any secondary goals that you feel are vital to the Akatsuki succeeding in our mission to bring the ninja world back to its former glory and peace, please do share." Pain said, describing the purpose of the meeting to their newest member Naruto.

All the Akatsuki members shuffled and it was as if they all suddenly became serious. Pain cleared his throat and began listing his goals. "Okay, goal number one, Capture another Jinchuuriki." All that were present at the meeting nodded their heads in agreement, except for Naruto. "Naruto?" Pain questioned, noticing the response, or rather, lack of it.

Naruto didn't quite understand why they needed to capture more Jinchuuriki, or why they had to capture them in the first place. He remembered the information that Itachi and Pain had told him " _All I am is a goddamn bragging right?"_ was the voice that flashed through his head. The night he had found out that he was of no use to the village except for a bragging right.

"Yes, sorry Pain-sama, I agree as well." Naruto said, with Pain responding soon after with a nod of his own. "There are 8 more Jinchuuriki to capture, which one should we capture first?" Kisame said, already getting a bit bored. He hated these meetings.

"Gaara of the Sand." Itachi said, through the fully zipped up cloak of the Akatsuki, responding swiftly. He had already thought this through. "Why do you say so Itachi?" Pain said, turning his head to face the dark haired Uchiha. "His story is much like Naruto's. A child, hated by the village for the beast sealed inside him by his father. Has no friends, family doesn't care about him and he is tired of it all. He wants revenge." Itachi said looking briefly at Naruto and afterwards looking at Pain. He said this sentence with the intention of making an impact, and make an impact it did.

Everyone seemed to agree with Itachi's choice. It would be easy to persuade a revenge hungry child to join the Akatsuki if you promised the same things that you would to Naruto. "Right, it is decided. Our next target to achieve our mission is Gaara of the Sand." Pain said, in the same monotone voice of underlying seriousness and utterly devoid of emotion.

Naruto, although he wouldn't show it, was quite shocked. There was another boy who had faced nearly the same conditions as him, he couldn't believe it. Before he could finish his thought, Pain said "On to the next issue. As many of you know, Kakashi the Copy Ninja tried to attack Naruto. As you also know, Naruto won the fight using his supreme strategic skills. It was truly incredible to see Naruto hold his own against Kakashi." A round of applause filled the room for a brief second.

It was the only round of applause that Naruto had ever received.

Pain continued with his sentence. "We have received information that Kakashi is going back to Konohagakure, at this point in time, we have 3 options. One, Kill Kakashi Hatake. Two, Leave him be and fight off any attempts to recapture Naruto, or three, visit Konoha and tell them to stop chasing us and Naruto."

This was a serious question of what to do, as if they didn't stop Kakashi then he may or may not come back with more reinforcements to take Naruto back, and that would be bad. "Doing nothing is out of the question. It's too high a risk to take with a village desperate to have "their" possession back" Deidara said, with everyone agreeing.

"What does Naruto suggest? He is, after all, the one who knows Kakashi's behaviour the best out of all of us." Sasori spoke, looking at Naruto afterwards. "Well, Naruto what do you think we should do?" Naruto was not really sure of what to answer. He wanted the Akatsuki to succeed, yet he wanted to keep Konoha the same, should he ever defect.

"Kakashi and the leaf should be warned. They have no business meddling in our matters. They treated me like shit anyways, yet it may prove to be a valuable asset in the future, when we succeed. They have some of the best shinobi that we can use. Besides, if we kill Kakashi, it was make the leaf's council even angrier and determined to get revenge. If Kakashi survives, they will be considerably less desperate." Naruto said, letting near no emotion out. "Hmm, all in favour?" Pain said, seeing the logic of keeping the leaf calm to prevent more forces coming after Naruto. Pain raised his hand up.

Some members will still deciding. Naruto's reasoning felt right. Konan, Sasori, Tobi, Itachi and Kisame raised their hands, while Hidan, Kakuzu and Zetsu, white and black, were still deciding. Kakuzu did not raise his hand, he thought that Kakashi should be killed to prevent being a threat in the future. White Zetsu thought so too, but Hidan was in favour. He saw the importance in keeping the leaf village for an asset in the future, as well as seeing the reasoning in not keeping the deciding council desperate to get their Jinchuuriki back.

"Majority in favour. It is decided. We shall go to the leaf and warn them. I will go there myself and so should Naruto. If anyone else wants to come with us, please do." Pain said, liking the idea of paying the leaf another visit. "Pain, if Naruto was to go with you on the visit to the leaf, wouldn't we have to postpone the taking of the One-Tails Jinchuuriki?" Itachi said.

"Yes, that is true. We might have to postpone it." Pain said, contemplating whether he should take Naruto along. He was thinking of substituting him for Hidan or Kakuzu. "No, we can't postpone the attack on Gaara!" Naruto blurted out, forgetting respect. Pain was puzzled, "and why not Naruto?" Pain questioned, looking at the blonde Jinchuuriki afterwards.

"Konoha already knows that we are after the tailed beasts. Since Gaara is a child of importance to Suna, and since Suna and Konoha are allies, Konoha will definitely warn Suna of the attacks and the taking of Jinchuuriki." Naruto was quite smart for his age, and yet nobody knows this back in Konoha except for the 3rd Hokage and Iruka because no-one ever gave him a chance to speak.

"That is also true. The solution eludes me for this one. We must decide which is more important. Konoha or Suna." Itachi spoke, unsure of himself. It wasn't very often that Itachi didn't know the answer to something. "Suna is definitely more important than Konoha. So, what if Kakashi or someone else comes to get Naruto? We'll fight them off!" Konan said, enthusiastically. _Enthusiastically_ would not be a world used to describe Konan, much less the way she talks.

"We should do both. They are both equally as important." Naruto said, quite sure that both would benefit the Akatsuki. "If we let Konoha go unattended, they will for sure plot something on us to take me back, however, if we could do both things simultaneously, then we are distracting Konoha from giving Suna a message and leaving Suna's Jinchuuriki easy to take. If we let Suna or Gaara unattended, they will surely receive a message from Konoha, realize their missteps and take proper care of Gaara. Our chance would be gone forever." Naruto reasoned and spoke out confidently, making everyone agree with him.

"Yes, that's all well and good, but how are we to do both things simultaneously?" Tobi said in his cheeky voice. "Shadow clones." Naruto gave a simple solution to a problem that eluded everyone. "You will need me on both missions, Konoha and Suna. Konoha to make a big impact and freeze them in their tracks and Suna to sympathise with Gaara and get him to join." Naruto was picking up on Itachi's persuasive skills.

"Very well. Naruto will shadow clone himself to go on both missions. As for who is going where, Kakuzu, Hidan, Naruto's Clone, and myself will be going to Konoha. We need our best fighters to protect Naruto against Leaf attacks. As for Suna, Itachi and Real Naruto will go to persuade Gaara to join the Akatsuki. Naruto, you should know that Itachi is very good at getting into places people aren't supposed to be, follow everything he says." Pain said, hinting the meeting closed.

"Anyone have any other concerns?" Pain said, not actually expecting a response. A response from a blonde hyper-active Jinchuuriki is what he got. "Pain-sama, shouldn't we name our operation of using the Infinite Tsukuyomi? You know, like all organisations name their operations something cool?" Naruto said, enthusiastically.

"I hadn't thought about that too much, it is a valid point. Anyone have any ideas?" Pain said, hinting a bit of annoyance in his voice, which went right over Naruto's head. "I do" Naruto said, once again looking at Pain. "Yes, Naruto?" Pain leaned forward just a little bit. "Death Moon." Naruto said, the name instantly growing on everyone.

"I like that. I like that" Tobi said, all happy. "Not too bad, accurate as well." Konan said, going back to her original voice. "Decided, our master plan is called 'Death Moon'" Pain said, signaling the meeting over.

In just a few hours, Konoha would receive a warning, as per request of Naruto.

-Gate of Konoha, few hours later-

Tsunade was excited and nervous at the same time. She had just received information that Kakashi Hatake was near the gates of Konoha. She was excited that she was going to see Naruto once again, and she would do everything in her power to make sure that Naruto never went back to the Akatsuki, she would make the villagers treat him with respect and everyone at the academy.

It may seem extreme to the villagers, but to her, but what did seem extreme was a boy the age of 5, being beaten over a thing that he had no control over, and due to the villager's ignorance that a young boy was the 9-tailed fox that had destroyed the village.

On the other hand, she was nervous for bad news, Kakashi may come back without Naruto in his hands or on his shoulders, which meant that Naruto wanted to stay or, was forced to. She vowed to herself that she wouldn't overreact and blame Kakashi for not bringing back Naruto.

Tsunade walked with confidence to the gate of Konoha, where she was greeted by 2 Konoha Chuunin, she raised her hand to signal the greeting received. She stood by the gate for quite a while, before Shizune came and found her, and when Tsunade explained why she was standing near the gate, Shizune understood and decided to greet Naruto, when he, if he came back.

It had been only 1 hour and 7 minutes, but it felt like 17 hours to Tsunade, and she was tired of waiting, yet she still kept calm and patient in the hope that Naruto would come back to Konoha with Kakashi, and Konoha would have its "thing" back.

Off in the distance, a small shadow appeared, which was coming over the bump in the road and coming closer to the gates of Konoha. A man, for sure, he wasn't a trader, for he had no bag slung behind his back. His hair was long and silver, unmanaged. He walked slowly. His long navy blue pants, which could be mistaken for black at a distance, had a white cloth tied around it 3 or 4 times. He wore black, open-toed sandals. A black/ navy blue sweatshirt with a green flak jacket was what could be seen of the top of said man.

Tsunade smiled weakly, in the hopes that any future disasters could be prevented with Naruto. Yet, Naruto could not be seen next to Kakashi or on his back. Tsunade still hoped, she thought that Naruto would be right behind Kakashi.

He was, but not in they way she thought.

Kakashi walked dejectedly towards the gate of Konoha, towards Tsunade, ready for the full brunt of her anger. It was his fault the first time, and now that he had a chance to make it right, he had failed in that too. If Tsunade got angry, he would be sure to take it from her, for he thought that he deserved it. Kakashi was almost at the gate. Kakashi's dark eyes met the light hazel of Tsunade's. You would usually never see those eyes forming tears, but this time, they were. Tsunade was trying not to cry.

She should have expected this. The Akatsuki had rationalised the boy. It's easy to get a boy, or anyone for that matter, to join your organisation when you promise them power to do the same things that they have done to you. He had been marginalised, not cared for, tortured, he was gullible, and the Akatsuki took advantage of that.

"I'm sorry, Tsunade-sama. I have failed. Please forgive me." Kakashi bowed before Tsunade. Small sobs escaped her mouth as she tried to hold back tears. Although she didn't show it often, she cared deeply for the boy. "Kakashi, it's your fault." Tsunade said weakly. "I know, I neglected him, and failed at my second chance." Kakashi said, recognising his failures to one of Konoha's most prized.

"For a… For a moment, I though he… he would be behind you, and I would we... welcome him with open arms." Tsunade stammered, she was filled with rage, but also sorrow, remembering the good times when he was here. "What are you saying, Baa-chan? I am right behind him." A voice like Naruto's spoke from in front of Tsunade. "Naruto?" Tsunade said, instantly recognising the voice, and thinking that Kakashi had pulled a mean prank on her.

"Tsunade-sama?" Kakashi said, puzzled. He was still kneeling, not ready to get up. He was wallowing in his own failure. "Konohagakure. The god-awful place that nearly killed me. Good to be back!" Naruto said, Tsunade now opened her eyes, seeing Naruto, through a black and orange cloak that signified his acceptance into the Akatsuki.

"And I brought friends!" Naruto said, excitedly. "Naruto. Stop right now. Come back to us, and that's an order." Tsunade barked, grabbing the attention Kakuzu, who was already bored to death. "Hahaha! SHUT UP." Naruto retorted, going from sarcastic laughter to seriousness in a matter of seconds.

Above the pack of 3, with Naruto standing in the middle, flanked by Hidan and Kakuzu, levitated Pain, rinnegan activated. "This is a final warning. Do not come near us again. Your Jinchuuriki is gone forever. If you chose to ignore this warning, a Chibaku Tensei shall completely annihilate your village" Pain said, sadistically smirking.

"What about your home, Naruto? You want to see it gone?" Tsunade said, angrily. She leaned forward and got her signature chakra-infused punch ready. "The same home that wanted me out of this world? Yeah, I am telling Pain to give you a pardon and a final warning. He wanted to kill you right now." Naruto retorted, equally as angrily as Tsunade.

Before you knew it, Tsunade was flying, her right hand cocked back, ready to deliver a chakra infused punch to Kakuzu, distracting Pain and Hidan, as well as jarring Naruto.

Naruto's clone made another clone. The clone's clone gave Naruto's outstretched right hand a rasengan, Hidan extended his double-bladed sword, while Kakuzu used his heart to form strings to make an X-shape over Naruto, while Pain and Naruto attacked the flying Tsunade. Pain hit Tsunade on the head with a mild Shinra Tensei. While Naruto ducked under the X-shape that Kakuzu and Hidan had formed to hit Tsunade in the chin, sending her flying back until the gates of Konoha.

Keep in mind, the gate was about 348 meters from where Tsunade was hit.

Kakashi saw this opportunity, and although in his mind it wouldn't work, he decided to give it a shot, and risk it. For the second time in his life, he would hit Naruto in the legs with a Raikiri, which had already been charged up, enough to immobilise him. He would then use the substitution jutsu to go somewhere inside Konoha, carrying Naruto.

However, the plan didn't work. Kakashi jumped up to attack Naruto's legs, Naruto, currently not knowing what to do, froze. He had faced Kakashi before, but he hadn't anticipated an attack like this. Pain, however had anticipated such and attack, and used his Banshō Ten'in to attract Shizune and Kakashi, as well as the 2 Chuunin that were supposed to be guarding the gates, and made them collide into each other.

"It seems that you have made your choice. If you try again to take me back, say goodbye to your dear village, as per my agreement. Our plan is already underway." Naruto said, releasing a bit of KI towards Tsunade. With that, Naruto Clone, Kakuzu, Hidan and Pain left the village, each of them using the substitution jutsu.

"Ugh… shit." Tsunade groaned. She should have anticipated this. Something that Naruto said stuck with her, it wasn't 'don't try to get me back', or 'village will be destroyed.'

Rather, it was 'Our plan is already underway, the same phrase which would not get out of her head was the phrase she was most worried about. The phrase came out of an Akatsuki members mouth, but at this point she didn't know what it meant. She didn't know their plan, yet she had some vague recollection of it.

She remembered the flashbacks from the day that Naruto had announced his joining of the Akatsuki. " _I am the only Jinchuurki here in this village, so we will leave it alone."_

" _The only Jinchuuriki here in this village."_ The word Jinchuurki had was now right next to the phrase "Our plan is already underway," Which is when it hit her. It had been staring her in the face this whole time, and a long time before that as well. She didn't understand how she could be so dumb, how she could be so careless. Time was of the essence right now, otherwise who knows if the Akatsuki could be stopped.

She got up and ran back to her office, she knew what she had to do, she was so close to doing it, and yet still so far. She needed to go to her office. Messages and info had to be collected, the Akatsuki had to be stopped. Their plan had to be foiled. She could do it, she knew that Akatsuki were smart, and that they were. They only targeted Konoha for now.

Oh, they were smart.

Other villages knew of the Akatsuki's existence, but they were never really a threat to them, so every other village left them alone. She was near the mean market of Konoha, the long, tall tower of the Hokage with the fire emblem could be seen. She had to get there as soon as possible. As she limped towards the tower, only 2 words repeated in her mind. _Jinchuuriki, Plan, Jinchuuriki, Plan, Jinchuuriki, Plan_.

She was cursing herself for not understanding it before, when they could have been stopped. She was almost there. Not too far away was her tower, where she would give out the message.

She could practically touch the doors. She didn't know if the visit was merely a distraction for their _plan_ , but if it was, it sure had worked. She didn't know if they had already accomplished it, or not. Either way, it was worth a shot. She had to ensure the safety of the ninja world.

She leaned against the doors, to get a moment of rest as she was exhausted. She hadn't fought in a while, but she had also gotten hit by the rasengan, and a chibaku tensei.

Conjuring up the last bit of strength, she pushed through the doors, and greeted the receptionist by saying 4 words, that's all it was. 4 words. Those 4 words were enough to send terror throughout anyone's body, anyone who was present there.

They were only 4 words, and yet they held more importance to Tsunade than to anyone else present at the scene. Those 4 words set off a chain reaction of panic. No-one knew what was going on, they knew it was urgent but they didn't know what made it so urgent. Those 4 words.

Everyone shuffled around that building, it was spoken in such a manner, with such urgency, such pain, such _horror_ , one could say. People who were talking with other villagers and ninja, suddenly stopped dead in their tracks. The dark-haired civilian who was complaining and screaming at one of the receptionists suddenly fell quiet. The businessman who was chatting up the Hyuuga leader suddenly froze.

The 2 best friends who were Jounins who had just received their breaks and were off to holiday in the Water country were in shock, the accountant who was passing by the main entrance from the copier machine back into the office wing suddenly dropped her 500 page report on the ground, because she heard those 4 words. Pages went flying helter skelter. The receptionist who Tsunade had spoken those words to dropped her tea and didn't say anything for 3 seconds, which felt like 3 years.

The papers that had gone flying were now soiled by the tea that the receptionist had dropped. The tea was black, and the page that was affected the most was a map of all the elemental nations, previously showing their true colours of red, blue, green, brown and yellow, as well as the other smaller nations, slowly but surely went black. Green was the most affected, followed by red.

All of this over 4 words, that's all it was. 4 words. 4 words to send an entire building into shock and panic. 4 words was all it took. Everyone heard those 4 words, that powerful phrase.

"Call the Kazekage, NOW!"


End file.
